This Saturday the 28th at 5PM is the potluck outside of 14 Warren. If you’re interested in attending, please sign up for a dish to bring!

You are encouraged to try a new recipe and bring it to the potluck to share with all. Your CAs compiled a cookbook of favorite recipes from within your community and sent it your email. The cookbook should serve as a good jumping point, but if you’re not comfortable making one of those dishes (or you don’t have the time or means) feel free to try any other recipe that you’d like to share with your neighbors!

Starting this Sunday September 8th (12:00pm), the Community Advisors (CAs) in the Woodframe area will be leading a Community Cleanup Team. There will be several opportunities this year to volunteer your time to clean up the streets. If you are interested in keeping your community clean and would like to volunteer (for this weekend or any other time), please contact any of your CAs for more information: Nelle Herrick (jherrick@wesleyan.edu), Richie Starzec (rstarzec@wesleyan.edu), or Leo Liu (lliu@wesleyan.edu). Thanks in advance for your help!

Students and their families tend to view the housing assignment as a significant part of the first-year experience. We have found that students’ residential experiences depend more on the connections they make with other members in their community rather than the assigned residence hall. Students quickly discover that each hall has its own positive attributes, and all provide the ability to make plenty of friends, regardless of the location. The campus is fairly compact, with all of the residences within a five to ten minute walk to any other part of campus. Wherever first-year students are housed, at least half the residents will be from their class.

All students who have roommates are expected to complete a roommate agreement, which provides an opportunity to discuss community versus personal items, visitors, neatness expectations, hours to be able to sleep or study, etc. These forms will be distributed to students by the Resident Advisors during New Student Orientation.

Wesleyan housing stock is very diverse, with multiple room sizes within each building, so it is difficult to provide room dimensions. Every student receives a desk, chair, dresser, bed, bookcase and closet or wardrobe. The furniture is movable, with the exception of some Foss Hill (West College and Nicolson) rooms that have built-in units. Most beds are adjustable in height, so risers are not needed. At its lowest level, the mattress is 15” from the floor. There are shades or vertical blinds on the windows. Bennet, Clark and 200 Church have sheet rock walls, the others are cinder block. Almost all of the rooms have tile floors. Should students bring a rug, we find a 5×7 best fits most spaces. Roommates should coordinate who will bring shared items, such as rugs and refrigerators, so as not to end up with duplicates. We encourage all students to limit what they pack and assess their needs upon arrival. There are a number of stores in the area, including Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Staples, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, so additional items can easily be purchased. All students whose belongings are not covered by a parent’s homeowners insurance should purchase a renter’s insurance policy, such as those offered by National Student Services Inc. at https://www.nssi.com/ or Gallagher Koster at https://www.gallagherkoster.com/.

As parents, you can support your son or daughter’s successful transition to college in a number of ways. You can help them evaluate situations from different perspectives and generate possible solutions, encourage them to address concerns as they arise rather than avoid a situation or have it escalate into a more serious problem, and help them accept responsibility for their actions and learn from the consequences. In addition, a member of the Residential Life staff is always available to assist them or at the least, point them in the right direction.

Wesleyan values the personal growth that the residential experience offers so much that students are required to live on campus throughout their undergraduate career. Residential Life supports this commitment through offering increasingly independent housing options and focusing on five learning outcomes, which include critical thinking, self-empowerment and life skills, effective citizenship, diversity, inclusion and social justice and effective communication. The increasing independence model can be found at https://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/Increasing%20Independence%20Model.pdf, and our learning outcomes at https://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/learning_outcomes.html.

On Tuesday, July 23, 2013, new and returning students will receive an email from Residential Life notifying them that their housing assignment and roommate(s) information is available in their e-portfolio. The assignment link will be found in the “Residential Life” box. For the majority of returning students, the assignment will be a confirmation of their General Room Selection choice and they will be reminded of what room they had selected.

A small percentage of returning students and all our new students will be receiving their assignments for the first time. Here are things to keep in mind when you receive your assignment:

New Students:

Residential Life tries to give students at least one of their preferences, but we are constrained by the quantity we have of each room type or location. For example, while you may not have been given your preferred building, we were able to assign you with your requested roommate or on a floor of all first-year students.

Mixed class buildings, especially the Butterfields, have a large population of first-year students; you will be surprised at how many of your first-year or transfer classmates are living in your residential area.

We ask all students, not just those in triple-occupancy rooms, to reduce the number of items they bring to campus, to avoid overcrowding their room.

Transfers are always placed in mixed class buildings with other transfers. Our apartments cannot provide the environment necessary for transfers to meet other students.

While the residences may feel spread out, you will find that Wesleyan is a close knit community and the distance gap will close significantly as a result.

Returning Students:

Residential Life tries to give students at least one of their preferences, but we are constrained by what we have vacant. For example, while you may not have been given your preferred residence-type, we might have been able to place you with a roommate or near the person you requested.

While some students consider some buildings appropriate for certain class years, we think all of our residence hall spaces are appropriate for all classes and students of all classes self select into these areas.

The most important thing to remember with assignments is not to judge too quickly based on your perceptions or information you have received from friends, classmates, or other members of the Wesleyan Community. The only way you will know if the assignment is not right for you is when you arrive and have experienced the people and environment. We have found it is less about your building and room, and more about the people in your community. Our staff works very hard to give everyone the same Wesleyan residential experience. When you get your assignment, please consider it with an open mind.

Donnie Collins is a transgendered student who attends Emerson College and is a brother of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity. Donnie and his Tau brother John will be coming to campus on April 19th to talk about Donnie’s positive fraternity experience as a transgendered student as well as how their fraternity raised money for his top surgery. This event is being hosted by multiple organizations including DKE, Beta, Alpha Delta Phi, AEPi, the QRC, Film Hall and Open House to name a few. The event will be about an hour in length and will in a question and answer format, so bring questions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sponsored by the Adelphic Educational Fund
Brought to you by the QRC Interns

The first room selection night will take place this Monday, April 8, 2013 from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Students will check-in at Usdan 108 at the appointment time designated later in this email. There is no need to show up any earlier to Usdan 108 than when you are scheduled. This year, we have smaller numbers of groups coming to Usdan which means less waiting time. It is imperative that you come with a list of your choices of housing, in order of preference. We will have floor plans, laptops, and staff to answer your housing questions in Usdan 108. Once called into Usdan 110, you will be making your selection with our staff.

Due to the new split and merge policy for rising seniors, the only groups that need to attend Monday’s selection night are 2, 4, 5, 6 person GRS groups between the ranks of 1 – 189 and 3-person groups before rank 156. GRS groups that are comprised of 1 person and the 3-person groups that have ranks higher than 155 will come on Tuesday, April 10th and select before the senior mixed groups and rising juniors. Groups that can select Monday, April 8, 2013 ( 2 – 6, except 3-person higher than 155)

The good news is we have enough units (exception of 3-person groups) for the number of registered group sizes, so everyone will receive a house or apartment in their current group size. Please remember that you will not be able to reconfigure your groups during this first selection night. If you arrive at your selection time and do not want to select the units available in your size, you may pass, reconfigure your group, and return on Tuesday night to select housing. Reconfigured groups will go through selection in rank order. Please remember if you do pass and reconfigure, we cannot guarantee you will receive a unit that matches your new group size. Groups that can select Tuesday, April 9, 2013 (1-person groups and 3-person higher than 155).

If you are after rank 155 and are in a 3-person group, you will need to reconfigure your group and select one of the available units on Tuesday, April 10th. The senior 1-person groups will also be attending selection on April 10th and we would like you to come to Usdan 108 at 5:30 so you can reconfigure your groups and select housing. We encourage you and 1-person groups to attend Mix, Mingle and Merge on April 5, 2013 to meet people who may want to join your group. Monday, April 8, 2013

This message is for students who want to live in a wood frame house for 2013-2014.

All students living in wood frame houses are expected to abide by the Community Standards which were developed by students, faculty, staff, and Middletown neighbors in order to help students and neighbors live amongst each other peacefully. At least one member of each group interested in selecting a wood frame house must attend one of the following four Community Standards Workshops. All will be held in Science Center 150, 12 p.m. – 1p.m.:

Students attending a Community Standards Workshop should plan on the following:

Arrive 5 – 10 minutes early, students that come after 12 p.m. will be turned away

Must present a WesID in order to enter Science Center 150

The WesID will be collected at the door, logged in during the workshop, and returned at the end

During the session, students need to shut off all electronics (laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc)

Students who are observed as not paying attention can be asked to leave and/or not receive credit for their attendance

Groups that do not have at least one representative that attended a workshop will be unable to select a wood frame house during room selection.

If the entire group attends a Community Standard Workshop, it will be entered into the first pick drawing

First Pick DrawingResLife holds a drawing for the first choice of housing for rising senior groups whose entire group attends the Community Standards Workshops. As long as each group member attends a session, they do not need to attend the same workshop to be eligible. Each member of the group must be a classified rising senior. Five groups will be chosen in the drawing (one for each housing group size – 2 through 6).

Rising seniors currently abroad or on leave that are a part of a formed Room Selection group will be exempt from attending a workshop. However, if more than half the group is abroad or on leave, the group does not qualify for the drawing. The group does not need to be present at the drawing to win.